February 28, 2012

AOC Tries the Buddy System

The Judicial Council today announced it was assigning council members to serve as liaisons to local trial courts. The pairings are meant to “increase communication and transparency and promote accountability,” said Justice Douglas Miller, chair of the Judicial Council’s Executive and Planning Committee.

San Francisco's buddy is council member and Contra Costa Judge Mary O’Malley -- a pairing that could prove acrimonious. O’Malley and S.F. court executives publicly butted heads in September, when O’Malley took the court to task for "mismanaging" its money. After S.F. court CEO Michael Yuen begged the Council to lobby for more funding for cash-strapped trial courts, she told him she wanted to know "what planet you're on."

Reached Tuesday, S.F. court spokeswoman Ann Donlan said this was the first she'd heard of the liaison program or O'Malley's assignment and had no further comment.